Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White said he offered Nick Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) a fight against Lyoto Machida (19-4 MMA, 11-4 UFC). But if Diaz doesn’t want to fight the ex-light-heavyweight champ in his middleweight debut, at least one other guy does.

Former Strikeforce title challenger Tim Kennedy (16-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who recently made a successful UFC debut with a decision victory over fellow 185-pounder Roger Gracie, has offered his services.

As Kennedy wrote on Twitter: “Lyoto is moving down to middleweight in the @ufc ?!?!?! I currently have a spot open on my dance card and would love to boogie. @danawhite”

As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported on Wednesday, White continues to hold out hope that Diaz returns to the cage. Although the ex-Strikeforce champ suggested he was going to retire following a March loss to UFC welterweight titleholder Georges St-Pierre, White recently has suggested Diaz may be interested in making a return.

“I talked to Diaz today, and I made him an offer, so we’ll see what happens,” White said on Wednesday. “He had been talking about going to 185 pounds. Machida has been talking about going to 185 pounds, so we wanted to see if he wanted to fight Machida at 185.”

If not, Kennedy is interested in a bout, as he wrote on Thursday.

Of course, Kennedy has already seen one potential high-profile fight slip through his fingers. He had been targeted for a bout with top middleweight contender Vitor Belfort this fall in Brazil. However, Belfort later said he’d rather fight at heavyweight than take a non-title fight at middleweight, where he believes he’s already earned another shot at the belt. That scrapped the Kennedy vs. Belfort plans.

Machida has had a long and fairly fruitful career at light heavyweight, despite his controversial decision loss to Phil Davis earlier this month at UFC 163. However, he long dismissed a potential move down to middleweight because his friend and training partner, Anderson Silva, was the division’s long-reigning champion. However, with Chris Weidman dethroning Silva earlier this summer, Machida might make the plunge.

Now, he just needs an opponent.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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